Kerala Muttil tree-felling case: two accused surrender before Chottanikkara court in cheating case

Jose Kutty Augustine and Anto Augustine, the second and the third accused in a cheating case in connection with the Muttil tree-felling case, surrendered before the Chottanikkara Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Ernakulam on Tuesday evening (August 11, 2026).

Following the surrender, the court, which had earlier issued Non-Bailable Warrant against the brothers, recalled the warrants.

However, Roji Augustine, the first accused, did not surrender on the day.

The court had directed all three accused to appear before it on August 18, 2026, following their failure to appear before it for framing the charges in the cheating case.

The prosecution case is that the accused cheated M. M. Aliyar, proprietor of Malabar Timber Industries, Karimugal, to the tune of ₹1.4 crore by offering to sell the timber.

In July, the Kerala High Court had dismissed the discharge petitions of Jose Kutty Augustine and Anto Augustine.

According to the FIR registered on July 13, 2021, the brothers allegedly collected the amount as advance in instalments from the trader and sold him 54 pieces of timber from illegally felled trees.

The trees were allegedly cut and transported from the Meppadi Forest Range in Wayanad.

Despite repeated requests, the accused allegedly refused to return the advance or produce valid permits. Mr. Aliyar then alerted the Forest department, which confirmed the illegal sale and confiscated the timber on February 8, 2021. The police initially booked the case under IPC Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating). Later, the Kerala High Court quashed the charge under Section 406 but upheld the cheating offence.

In their discharge petition, the accused argued that no permit was required for transporting the timber sold and that the charges were unsustainable. Mr. Aliyar countered that he was misled into believing that the timber sale was lawful. The court rejected the accused’s contention, noting that the Forest department’s investigation established they had no authority to transport or sell the timber.

Jose Kutty and Anto Augustine, along with their brother Roji Augustine, are also key accused in the large-scale illegal felling and smuggling of protected rosewood and teak trees estimated at ₹8 crore from assigned lands in Muttil South, Wayanad, carried out without the Forest department’s permission.